News in brief from Russia's airline industry, Rezidor, easyJet, Travelport GDS and Zambezi Airlines and Ryanair
Russia airline traffic down 16.5%
The Russian airline industry has seen a sharp 16.5% drop in traffic in the six months to July, the country's Federal Aviation agency reported.
Russia's airlines carried 5.25m passengers in July, 10.8% fewer year-on-year.
Some Russian airlines close to bankruptcy are said to have started restructuring talks.
The weakened rouble has made travel abroad less affordable for Russian nationals, reports said.
http://enc.ex.ru/
Rezidor unveils Park Inn Dubai Airport
Rezidor Hotel Group (RHG) has announced it is to open the Park Inn Dubai Airport Free Zone in 2012.
The 312-room property will strengthen RHG's airport hotel portfolio which stands at 32 either in operation or under construction.
The mid-market Park Inn is situated less than 2km from Dubai International's Terminal 2 in a "free zone" set up in 1996 to encourage foreign investment.
RHG will also add the Radisson Blu Hotel Cairo Heliopolis to its Middle Eastern portfolio later this year.
RHG recently opened Park Inns in Muscat and Al Khobar.
www.rezidor.com www.parkinn.com
easyJet sees growth in August
Budget airline easyJet has reported a 4.7% year-on-year growth in traffic in August.
Europe's second largest low cost carrier served 4.8m passengers in August, compared to 4.6m last year.
The improved traffic resulted in a 0.5% increase in load factor to 91.8%.
The August results are in line with easyJet's rolling 12-month figures suggesting stable growth.
In the 12 months to August 2009, easyJet's traffic rose 4.8%.
easyJet has also announced it is to end operations at the UK's East Midlands Airport with further reductions at London Luton (see ABTN news Sep 3 - easyJet to quit East Midlands).
www.easyjet.com
Zambezi signs to Travelport
Zambezi Airlines, the national carrier for Zambia, has signed a full content agreement with Travelport GDS.
The airline's published fares and inventory will all now be available on Travelport's Galileo and Worldspan GDSs.
Zambezi's executive director Jomo Matululu said the agreement was essential to the airline's future growth.
The Zambian carrier is pursuing expansion plans and earlier this year announced new flights to and from Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city.
www.flyzambezi.com
Ryanair traffic hits record high
Ryanair has reported a 19% year-on-year rise in traffic for August.
The budget carrier served a record 6.88m passengers in August up from 5.78m last year.
Ryanair's 90% load factor remained flat on last year's levels as capacity was increased in line with demand.
www.ryanair.com